Essay on Determinants of Health Factors in Indigenous Australians

Essay - Assignment 2

While there have been some improvements in the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in recent decades, Indigenous Australians remain considerably more disadvantaged in long term health and socioeconomic outcomes compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts (AIHW 2014). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians experience higher rates of poor health, poverty, poor nutrition, inadequate housing and other social and health problems relative to non-Indigenous Australians (Mitrou et aL 2014). This disparity in health and social outcomes is often the result of a complex array of interrelated cultural, economic, environmental, geographical and social factors that impact upon the health and well-being of this population. Much oft qis observed discrepancy has been attributed to so-called "determinants of health" factors, which are defined as those non-health indicators of life outcomes which influence an individual's health status across the course of their life (Canuto et al. 2017). These determinants of health factors are listed below.

Determinants of health factors:

• Education
• Employment and income
• Housing
• Location
• Racism and racial discrimination
• Community safety
• Transport and
• Health behaviours and lifestyle (e.g. tobacco use, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diet and nutrition).

For this assignment, you must choose and examine FOUR determinants of health factors from the above list. In approximately 450 words for each of these four factors, describe and explain how they impact on the health and well-being of a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. Your responses are to be presented as a formal scholarly essay, supported by reliable sources of evidence (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles or textbooks), and referenced correctly using the UniSA Harvard Referencing Style.